Blog: DIY project
Charlie Charlie

Favourite Natural Wedding Details: favours, table plans, wedding cakes, DIY projects, transport & children-friendly weddings

Charlie

Favourite Natural Wedding Details: favours, table plans, wedding cakes, DIY projects, transport & children-friendly weddings

Natural Wedding Details

For the third part of our Real Wedding Favourites mini series we are bringing you are Favourite Natural Wedding Details. As you might imagine, choosing ‘favourites’ in this category is really hard. It’s also a lot down to personal preference. My suggestion is to enjoy browsing through our blog archive for inspiration for your wedding details.

All our picks are chosen from the very first Real Wedding we featured up until spring of this year. You can find all the links to our Real Wedding Favourites here.

Our Favourite Wedding Favours

Hot Chocolate Mugs with a Vintage Welsh ‘Love Teaspoon’ 

Natural Wedding Details: Hot Chocolate Mugs with a Vintage Welsh 'Love Teaspoon'

Nik was one of our first TNWC Real Brides and together with her husband Chris they created a true-to-them chilled out wedding at their home. We followed many of the details that Nik created for their wedding, but it was hot chocolate inspired wedding favours that I really loved.

Nik decorated a mug for each guest that they served hot chocolate in at their wedding, and gave the mug along with a vintage teaspoons with the words ‘LLwy Garu’ (Welsh for ‘love spoon’) stamped onto it as wedding favours. Useful and beautiful.

Natural Wedding Details: Hot Chocolate Mugs with a Vintage Welsh 'Love Teaspoon'

Charlie’s favourite wedding favours come from Nik and Chris’ chilled out rustic coastal farm wedding. Vintage teaspoons from Rescue & Revive and mugs hand decorated by the bride. Photography by Pete Cranston Photography.

Nik’s wedding dress was also one of our favourites, which you can see in our Natural Wedding Styles post.

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Samantha Samantha

A DIY wedding menu wall hanging and book review of Decorate for a Party

Samantha

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The ultimate party season is fast approaching so surely there is not a more perfect time to check out a book solely focused on creating beautifully themed parties. Decorate for a Party by Holly Becker of the fab Decor8, design and lifestyle blog and Leslie Shewring of the charming blog A Creative Mint provides an abundance of ‘stylish and simple ideas for meaningful gatherings.’

With such brilliant creative minds behind the book you can find the sort of inspiration and DIY suggestions you would expect. And you know we are a sucker for a good DIY project especially if it involves re-using or recycling items that you already have around the house. With this in mind we pawed over the lovely pages and selected a simple DIY wedding menu wall hanging to make to find out just how easy the suggestions are for you.

So check out our version of their DIY wedding menu wall hanging followed by our review of the book.

DIY Wedding Menu Wall Hanging

Decorate for a Party // DIY Wedding Menu Wall Hanging // The Natural Wedding Company

Now we couldn’t just review a DIY book without testing out an idea and giving it a go to see how simple they really are. With a friends winter wedding fast approaching, I selected an idea that I felt would work with the look and theme she is going for – a DIY wedding menu wall hanging.

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Samantha Samantha

How to make a red gingham pageboy bow tie for your rustic country wedding

Samantha

pinterest-how-to-bow-tie

Today I have created a lovely and simple pageboy bow tie DIY tutorial. Being a mama to a little boy I sometimes find the outfit choices a little limiting compared to the options for girls. For a celebration however I don’t think there is anything more adorable than a boy in a bow tie – paired with some braces, a flat cap, or blazer you can’t really go wrong.

These bow ties are so simple and easy they would be perfect to make for little pageboys, and the advantage of making them yourself is you can choose any fabric that compliments the rest of your wedding party. I chose a red gingham fabric but you could choose any kind.

The tutorial today has been adapted from one by Slow Mama which I used a couple of years back when my little one was a baby. Now he’s a little older I made a couple of small changes to suit a family wedding we had this summer. You really don’t need to be a pro seamstress to make one, I am most definitely not!

What you need to create a pageboy bow tie

How to make a pageboy bow tie // The Natural Wedding Company

What you will need:

  • Fabric (at least 25cm x 20cm)
  • Complimentary thread & needle
  • Sewing machine (optional)
  • Scissors (material scissors preferable)
  • 2 x small safety pins
  • Tape measure
  • Iron (optional but helpful)

Making your pageboy bow tie

How to make a pageboy bow tie // The Natural Wedding Company

Step 1 – Cut the fabric

Cut the two pieces of fabric required to make the bow tie:

  • Piece 1 – 25cm x 12cm
  • Piece 2 – 8cm x 4cm

As my fabric was chequered it was easy to follow the lines. If you are not confident in cutting the right sizes in a straight line, make the templates out of paper/newspaper first and trace onto the fabric.

How to make a pageboy bow tie // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

Homemade dark chocolate dipped peanut butter and raspberry jam wedding favours from Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman

Charlie

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One of my other loves in life is food and cooking, and wherever possible using wholefood ingredients rather than that processed nonsense, so you can imagine my delight when I was given the opportunity to share a new cake and patisserie book with you (and give a copy away – more details on that below).

Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman is full of delicious sounding recipes using whole, natural and nourishing ingredients, and is totally free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar for those who are avoiding those foods. Not only is this a great recipe book for home baking, but it is also full of recipes that I think would be great for weddings – which is why I felt I wanted to share it with you.

Having a lovely flip through the book, I ear-marked a number of recipes that I thought would be idea for a wedding, so if you are planning to DIY some of your wedding, here are my thoughts on some edible homemade projects.

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DIY sweet treats for your wedding

I thought the Strawberry verbena granita would be delightful for a summer wedding and a delicious alternative to ice cream.

There are two pages of recipes for truffles, including the scrummy sounding Blackcurrant truffles and Camomile and honey ‘white chocolate’ truffles – all of which I thought would make thoughtful homemade wedding favours.

What about making your own Fresh mint thins (think fresh mint leaves covered in dark chocolate) to decorate your wedding cake

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Charlie Charlie

Wreaths throughout the seasons: learn how to make these spring hedgerow inspired wedding table wreaths

Charlie

Spring hedgerow table wreaths // Flowers by Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

I am delighted to be back today with Alice from Lock Cottage Flowers with a how to guide for making a spring hedgerow table wreath. Not only are would these wreaths be a great little project to decorate your table for a party, but Alice has also shown how you can dress them up a little more to make them the perfect wedding centrepieces.

Spring hedgerow table wreath centrepiece with pots of lavender // Flowers by Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

I don’t know about you, but spring is one of my favourite times of the year, especially for flowers, and these wreaths remind me of the steep Devon hedgerows of my childhood in March/April just exploding with green and all those exquisite wildflowers.

This wreath how to is part of a wonderful series Alice has put together for us, called Wreaths Throughout The Seasons, which provides inspiration and guides for incorporating wreaths into your home or wedding throughout the year, not just at Christmas.

You can find all her posts by clicking on Wreaths Throughout The Seasons or find the individual features below:

How to make a living winter viola table wreath

How to make a seasonal Valentine’s wreath

How to create a hellebore moss winter wreath

Now, over to Alice…

How to make a spring hedgerow table wreath

Hello everyone, this spring instalment of wreaths through the seasons will cover tabletop wreaths that I recently created for a spring wedding. Similar to the winter wreath that I did, these spring wreaths are a combination of small bedding plants swaddled in moss and cut flowers in floral tubes.

Spring hedgerow table wreaths // Flowers by Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

A creative and practical guide to making an edible leaf wedding cake

Charlie

Edible leaf wedding cake // Maddocks Farm Organics // Bees Bakery // The Natural Wedding Company

I was blown away by this unusually decorated wedding cake with its edible leaves, a fantastic collaboration between TNWC recommended supplier Maddocks Farm Organics and Bees Bakery. If you’ve read our blog for any length of time you’ll know we are big fans of edible flowers, but edible leaves on a wedding cake? It may sound odd, but as you can see from this beautiful cake it creates the most stunning effect. It is both modern and natural, and feels like it could have been painted on. I particularly like the combination of purples and greens used.

Sourcing Edible Flowers For Wedding Cakes

Whilst this is a design you could ask a wedding cake maker to create for you, Maddocks Farm Organics have helpfully given some tips on how to do it yourself. Firstly, it’s important to remember these key points about using edible leaves:

  • Flowers and leaves should not be eaten unless sourced from a reputable organic supplier of edible varieties (we recommend these edible flower suppliers).
  • Many flowers and leaves are poisonous and can cause a whole range of serious symptoms if ingested. Even if you don’t plan to eat them, it is wise not to attach them to any food items in case they are mistaken for being edible when they are not. Even if they are just decoration, sap or fine hairs could leech onto your cake and cause irritation.
  • Do not be tempted to pick up supermarket or regular floristry flowers to decorate your cake. They are routinely sprayed with chemicals that you absolutely do not want to be ingesting or touching your wedding cake.

So when sourcing your edible flowers or leaves, ensure that you 1) buy from a reputable organic supplier; 2) Ask your supplier how they are grown, picked and processed; and 3) Discuss with your supplier how you want to use them.

Natural and modern edible leaf wedding cake // Maddocks Farm Organics // Bees Bakery // The Natural Wedding Company

How To Use Edible Leaves On Wedding Cakes

With that in mind, here’s Maddocks Farm Organics top tips on how to use edible leaves on your wedding cake:

  • Edible leaves work best when pressed into buttercream.
  • They should be added to your cake on the day of your wedding.
  • Choose from organically grown leaves, herbs and wild foragings.
  • Use clover shaped and fern shaped edible leaves in a variety of shades to create a striking design (like the one above).
  • More robust varieties include rosemary and lavender (examples below, but please note I am not sure if any of the other flowers/leaves shown on the cakes are suitable, as per the advice above – please check with your supplier).

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Charlie Charlie

Wreaths throughout the seasons: learn how to make a living winter viola table wreath

Charlie

Learn how to make a winter viola and ivy table wreath // Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

Well what a week it’s been full of wreath idea – and nothing Christmassy in sight. Alice from Lock Cottage Flowers has shown us how to create a January moss wreath, seasonal Valentine’s wreaths, and today she’ll be showing us how to make a table wreath with potted violas and ivy. If you’d like to see all the posts in this feature series then you’ll find them here at Wreaths Throughout The Seasons.

I’ve really loved her use of living plants in her wreaths, and creating living centrepieces is something we’ve previously shared on the blog. I would love to see more weddings using them in creative ways, and as these ideas show they would work beautifully for a woodland inspired wedding or an eco-chic city wedding perhaps.

Over to Alice…

How to make a winter viola and ivy table wreath

Learn how to make a winter viola and ivy table wreath // Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

Wreaths throughout the seasons: learn how to make a seasonal heart-shaped wreath for Valentine’s Day

Charlie

Wild twiggy heart wreath with berries for Valentine's Day // By Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

Today it’s all about creating seasonal Valentine’s wreaths – I particularly love Alice’s wild and twiggy heart with its bright red berries. These could be used to decorate your door this weekend or the smaller heart wreath would make a great DIY project for a wedding.

In case you missed it, on Monday we shared how to create a hellebore moss winter wreath as part of a new blog series called Wreaths Throughout The Seasons with our friend Alice from Lock Cottage Flowers. We’re hoping to inspire you to start putting up seasonal wreaths on your front door or in your home at times other than just Christmas.

Over to Alice…

How to make a seasonal Valentine’s wreath

This first Valentine’s wreath is made from British parvifolia (small leafed eucalyptus – smells divine) and dried lavender which isn’t too visible here, but is very fragrant. These smaller wreaths are terrific for hanging on a small space in the kitchen, or hanging on a doorknob. For weddings they make terrific chairbacks.

I used heavy duty garden wire – the kind used for wall training roses – a coat hanger could be taken apart and used as well. Don’t worry if the heart is slightly wonky – this is preferable.

Learn how to make a heart-shaped eucalyptus and lavender wreath // By Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

Wreaths throughout the seasons: learn how to create a January moss wreath with seasonal winter flowers

Charlie

Learn how to create a January moss wreath with seasonal winter flowers // Flowers by Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

I am delighted to be kicking off a brand new feature series on the blog this week on seasonal wreaths – I’m calling it wreaths throughout the seasons. Back in my teens I spent a couple of years living in America and it seemed that every season or holiday celebration houses would be decorated with wreaths. I have often thought it sad that we don’t do this more in the UK, and I found out my friend Alice at Lock Cottage Flowers shares my thoughts on this.

So we’ve decided to do something about it – Alice is going to be creating some lovely wreaths of all kinds to take us through the different seasons and holiday celebrations, and I’m going to be showcasing them here to inspire you on the blog. I even want to set myself a personal challenge to decorate my front door at least in some way to fit in with Alice’s posts, so watch this space.

Alice has even set up a hashtag on Instagram #11monthsofwreaths where seasonal wreaths can be posted that fit with our project guidelines below. We’ll be posting all of the wreaths shown here to that hashtag and hopefully more wreath makers will tag theirs as well – please join in.

Valentine’s – I’m sure many of you are well aware that this coming weekend is Valentine’s Day, so this week Alice has created a series of seasonal spring wreaths that are fit for Valentine’s Day or to bring a little cheer to your home this damp spring.

So over to Alice for more details…

Wreaths are not just for Christmas

Wreath making is my favourite form of floristry and one of the oldest so I think it’s a shame to just do Christmas wreaths and the occasional memorial wreath. Fortunately, a lot of brides order flower crowns (a type of wreath) or I’d go bananas waiting until December to be allowed to make them.

My rules for this project are:

  1. No floral foam
  2. Only British flowers and foliage used
  3. Wreaths must be seasonal
  4. Christmas wreaths will be excluded from this project

The first instalment that I’ll be sharing this week covers late winter and early spring:

How to make a hellebore moss winter wreath 

Learn how to create a January moss wreath with seasonal winter flowers // Flowers by Lock Cottage Flowers // The Natural Wedding Company

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Samantha Samantha

Rustic autumnal wedding decor inspiration with pumpkins, dried flowers and leaves from ‘The Crafted Garden’ by Louise Curley

Samantha

The Crafted Garden book review by The Natural Wedding Company

Rustic autumnal wedding decor inspiration from The Crafted Garden

You know how fond we are of a crafted, hand-made project here at The Natural Wedding Company, and a crafted project made with natural, seasonal materials either foraged or homegrown, well that ticks every box in our eyes. It is wonderful projects such as these that you will find in The Crafted Garden: stylish projects inspired by nature a beautiful book by Louise Curley that we are sharing with you today.

We also have a special reader offer for those who’d like to buy the book – you’ll find all the details at the bottom of the post.

Rustic autumnal table display with pumpkins, dried flowers and leaves // The Natural Wedding Company

Book review of The Crafted Garden

I was a excited to receive this book based on the brief synopsis and beautiful cover alone, and although I will admit I was a tiny bit sceptical that it wouldn’t offer anything more than what I could find scouring Pinterest, I will say straight away now that my scepticism was unfounded!

The Crafted Garden winter squash vases // The Natural Wedding Company

The book has been cleverly put together and Louise clearly has a passion for the great outdoors and how you can incorporate it in your home, for a celebration or as a unique gift idea.

I approached the book from a wedding point of view (whilst also already planning how I was going to use each one some how in my home) and excitedly flicked through the pages thinking how each craft could be used or adapted for wedding décor, accessories, gifts and so on and how all the ideas could be adapted through the seasons.

Dried autumn leaf 'Mr & Mrs' wedding garland // The Natural Wedding Company

Although some of the projects may seem simple or obvious, I was surprised at how I hadn’t ever thought of doing them before and it really makes you look around and consider the natural resources you have around you.

The Crafted Garden foraging // The Natural Wedding Company

The book offers 50 crafting projects all inspired by nature and whether you are a crafting amateur or gardening pro it contains a plethora of information beautifully presented to make it easy to read and follow. Broken down into seasons, not only does it provide instructions on craft ideas but really useful tips such as guidelines for foraging ethically, how best to dry flowers (great for after your wedding if you wish to preserve yours) and the best seasonal flowers.

Rustic twig picture frame for an autumn wedding // The Natural Wedding Company

Autumnal wedding craft projects

To give you a little insight into a few of the fab craft ideas in the book we tested a few of the autumnal projects out to hopefully offer a bit of seasonal wedding decor inspiration.

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